Basildon:The Thatcherite town.

Close to the Thames container port of Tilbury the Borough of Basildon enjoys good links with the capital,It was the last of the "new Towns" built after the war and perhaps in some need of modernization.The official website stresses that the authorities are aware of its potential,it has favourable property values compared to the metropolis and it is,they claim,a good place to live and work.They have links with overseas markets and officers have been on business trips to Scandinavia and even China to promote trade.

While they are keen to promote change they still suffer from the recent history as a place which benefited most from the policies of Mrs.Thatcher and the BBC sometimes compares their reputation with other towns in England still suffering from the decline of heavy industries and the onset of mass unemployment.

In 2010 the Council set out elaborate plans to conduct a forced eviction of Irish Travellers from a site  in Crays Hill part of which did not have planning permission.This stirred up plenty of opposition and among the protestors were leaders of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches ,various Rabbis,the representative of the UN.Amnesty International et alia. 

Most significantly the body which looks after government land,The Homes and Community Agency, said that they were willing to look around for land upon which sites could be established to rehouse the Travellers.This did not please the Council because they were in a hurry and impatient.It would have taken some time to implement and might involve the Council having to agree to granting planning permission -something they had resolutely resisted hitherto.

The United Nation's position on forced evictions is clear:They are cruel and unnecessary.Member States are urged to avoid them at a local and national level.If they do occur the people affected should be found alternative accomodation and they should be given compensation for the trauma of losing their homes.

 The council ignored all opposition and discussed what alternative plans could be made if their request for help from HMG for £13m was rurned down.

The leader of the Council,Tony Ball, enjoys an unusual position of  privilege because in October 2009 the Council agreed that only he could speak on matter relating to Dale Farm.Other Councillors must keep stum because there was a danger that somebody might in an unguarded moment say something that attracted the attention of the Equalities Commission.There was some murmurings in the Council chamber because two members had to deal with related matters in their particular wards.Inwhich case they were instructed to run the message through him.In this fashion Tony Ball became the new  TV personality and attracted,so he tells us,much hate mail.

Under his leadership the Council pursued a vigorous campaign of developement which involved the sale of huge parcels of land to retail giants Morrisons which involved the closure of the municipal baths in Pitsea in Olympic year.Other open areas where generations of children had played in safety were threatened by the Council's ambitions to excell in the cutthroat world of real estate.

At the same time,having acqured financial backing from Eric Pickles they went ahead with their plans to remove the Travellers.

At that time on their website they still featured an item which looking towards a time when the conflict was over they could charge the Travellers with the cost of their own eviction and in the event of non-payment seize the land in compensation.

After the eviction Tony Ball,still breathing fire said he was determined to pursue through civil courts those protestors found guilty of obstructing the Bailiffs and to this end hired a solicitor to do his bidding at £90 an hour.In the end the Judiciary decided that this was not in the public interest. On the first anniversary of the eviction the Sun noticed that the site which had been pulverized by Council operatives was still in a bad shape and spoke to the Great Leader who originally had said the uprooting of the land had been a temporary measure to stop Travellers coming back,now -in an unguarded moment perhaps (He had hired a top PR man from Westminster,Cormac Smith, in 2011) he said that the Council could not clear up the mess because the land did not belong to them.

In another interview he was given a leading question the like of which even John Wayne  would have appreciated:

"You have been 10 years on this case,Mr.Ball and spent millions how long do you think you can continue ?"

Our hero drew himself up to his full height:"As long as it takes ."he declared.  

Note the admission

The land that his contractors had ruined belonged to the residents,before,during and after the eviction.

They had destroyed somebody else's land.

They only had permission to remove dwellings that did not have planning permission.

They exceeded their powers and in the process did criminal damage which resulted in the creation of a real health hazard.

One of the contractors said that the bungs or mounds of spoil piled eight foot high were of a kind he had never encountered before.They seemed to be designed to make the site uninhabitable.

On film somewhere is shown a person who is legally entitled to stay having her caravan removed,the hardstanding cleared and the caravan put back where it was but now in an area less safe from the effects of contamination.

Mostly however the deeds done on the site were hidden from view and when the Labour MEP,Richard Hewitt visited the site he was forcibly removed by security men who dragged him unceremoniously away with his heels scraping the tarmac. Let that be a lesson to you,Sir.